Fleet Management Blog

Your source for all fleet management news, best practices, thought leadership and more

6 Strategies for Improving Inventory Management for Your Fleet

In the crane and rigging industry, inventory management can be the equivalent of a sustained migraine headache to your service or purchasing managers. If you do not have a reliable and organized system to track thousands of parts from a myriad of different manufacturers, you inevitably will have assets that are unaccounted for that will cut into your profits.

1. Decide on a Physical Organizational Structure

Categorize those manufacturers into sub-groups such as electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, hardware etc.

Maintain an alpha-numeric order for all parts and clearly label bin locations

Secure inventory to reduce confusion regarding lost or misplaced items

2. Develop a Company-Wide Parts Entry Procedure

Follow the recommended procedure by your fleet management system so that there is uniformity with all of your parts records

Part number, description, manufacturer, unit of measure (UOM), part type, vendor, quantity on hand and barcode information should always be entered to avoid confusion regarding details of a specific part

Consistency in part entry is especially important for companies with multiple locations. “Part #102” in “Yard A” looks identical in your system as “Part #102” in “Yard B”. Having a 1 to 1 entry allows you to easily view and utilize inventory from all companies and all yards in real-time

5. Closely Monitor Consumables

Ensure stock on hand for items like grease, aerosols, cleaners, safety materials and other items that are used across multiple units and service activities

Manage these items efficiently as there is no reasonable means to attach, for example, a quantity of aerosol to a work order, however, their cumulative costs will add up, especially for larger companies

Set an example to the service staff that ALL items no matter size or price will be monitored and accounted for

6. Encourage Procedural Refinement and New Ideas

Maintain a healthy dialogue between management and staff to determine what practices are working and what are not, as well as ways to improve organization

Evaluate costs by researching new vendors or inquiring about further discounts

Determine the true necessity of items and quantities being ordered

Inventory management is difficult – but it doesn’t have to be. Fleet management software and consultants can help. For more insight on how you can manage your company’s inventory more efficiently contact our team today.